Education (K-12): Bullis School (Md.), Ensworth School (Tenn.), Grace Church School (N.Y.),Green Acres School (Md.), High Tech High (Calif.), Kent Place School (N.J.), Kettle Moraine Lutheran High School (Wis.), Lake Travis Independent School District (Texas), Pflugerville Independent School District (Texas), Pine Crest Preparatory School / Boca Raton Campus Building (Fla.), Sheridan School (D.C.), Sidwell Friends School (D.C.),The Athenian School (Calif.), William E. Miller School (Ore.)

GPP Recognizes Top 20 K-12 Schools In October, GPP announced a new Top Partner List recognizing the top twenty green power purchases among primary and secondary schools and school districts. The addition of the new list brings the total number of Top Partner Lists to ten.

The Top 20 K-12 Schools list features schools from nine different states and the District of Columbia. Maryland and New York were the states with the most schools represented, with four schools from each state in the top 20.

The top five Partners from the K-12 Schools list include Austin Independent School District (Texas), Round Rock Independent School District (Texas), Rochester City School District (N.Y.), Bullis School (Md.), and The Dalton School (N.Y.).

Reminder: January Top Partner List Updates
The next update of the Top Partner Lists is on January 25, 2010. Please remember to submit your updated green power purchase information to GPP by January 5 in order to have your organization reflected in the January update!

GPP: A Year in Review
The Green Power Partnership had another year of strong growth despite the economic recession. As of December 8, 2009, the Partnership has added more than 300 new Partners (see Figure 1) and currently totals more than 1,200 Partners. Partners are from a wide range of industries and located in 49 states plus the District of Columbia. So far in 2009, new Partners have procured nearly 1.6 billion kilowatt-hours, which is equivalent to the CO2 emissions from the electricity use of more than 1.7 million average American homes for one year. Total Partner green power use is 6 percent greater than at year-end 2008 and 52 percent more than at year-end 2007 (see Figure 2). The majority of Partners' green power usage is being supplied by renewable energy certificates (RECs), followed by green pricing products, green power marketing products, and on-site generation (see Figure 3).

Figure 1.
Number of New Partners by Year

Figure 2.
Green Power Use (kWh)

Figure 3.
Green Power Product Mix 2009

GPP to Host Webinar on Aggregate Purchasing
On Thursday, January 28, from 1 - 2 p.m. (Eastern), GPP will host a Webinar on aggregating demand for green power. By combining power purchases, buying groups are able to purchase electricity and green power at reduced rates by lowering transaction costs and leveraging their purchasing power. Aggregations can take several forms, such as pooling purchases with other local governments and/or businesses or through a community choice model.

GPP and the Association of Climate Change Officers Co-host Webinar
On October 15, GPP and the Association of Climate Change Officers hosted a Webinar featuring organizations and municipalities that are using green power and the Green Power Partnership as key components of their climate change strategy. The Webinar featured presenters from Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, ING, and the cities of Grand Rapids and Boston. The presenters discussed key strategies for incorporating renewable energy into climate action plans, why clean energy is a powerful tool for organizations trying to reduce their carbon footprint, and how leading organizations are using the climate challenge to support clean power. For more information on the Webinar including electronic copies of the presentations and a recording, visit: http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/events/oct15_webinar.htm.

While GPP does not require Green Power Partners to purchase certified products, GPP strongly encourages organizations to purchase green power products that are certified by an independent third party as a matter of best practice. Certification helps ensure the quality of green power products, and also helps build consumer confidence in the marketplace. For more information about certification, visit http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/buygp/certified.htm

In addition, in October GPP updated its Top Lists to present the green power providers of respective Partners in descending rank order by the amount of green power the provider supplied the Partner, rather than in alphabetical order.

GPP and Top Partners Featured in Cogeneration & On-Site Power ProductionCogeneration & On-Site Power Productionmagazine (COSPP). COSPP's editors solicited the article in response to heavy interest in GPP's new Top 20 On-site Generation list. The article provides a background on GPP, resources for on-site generation, and highlights certain top Green Power Partners that have successfully developed on-site generation projects. COSPP is published bi-monthly and boasts a circulation of over 170,000 copies, with over half of its readership residing in the United States. The article will be published in hard copy and will also appear on the magazine's Web site at www.powergenworldwide.com.

Call for Nominations—U.S. EPA Climate Protection Award Deadline: March 31st
EPA invites nominations for the Climate Protection Awards. This award program was established in 1998 to recognize exceptional leadership, outstanding innovation, personal dedication, and technical achievements to protect the Earth's climate. So far, more than one hundred and fifty awards have been presented to outstanding individuals, dedicated companies, forward-thinking organizations and government institutions from many countries.

Green Power Partners are encouraged to self-nominate and green power providers can nominate clients. Nominations are due March 31, 2010. Winners will be announced at the annual Climate Protection Awards Ceremony in Washington, D.C. The ceremony will take place in the fall. For further information, visit: www.epa.gov/cppd/climateawards or contact Kristen Taddonio at (202) 343-9234 or by e-mail at Taddonio.Kristen@epa.gov.

Insights into the Voluntary Renewable Energy Market
In September, the Center for Resource Solutions published Insights into the Renewable Energy Market: A Brief Overview of Procurement Trends, Drivers, and Impacts of Voluntary Commercial Purchasers.

The report documents the increase in renewable energy purchases made by commercial customers and offers analysis of procurement trends, market drivers, and impacts. Read the report (PDF) (20 pp, 2.8MB, About PDF) on CRS's Web site to learn more.